Settling for anything less than what you want and what inspires you takes away from one of the greatest and worst experiences of life. Hope. Hope to accomplish your dreams. To pay your rent, to provide for your family, or even to get off the streets. With a little hope, and a lot of work, anything’s possible. It is far better to aim for the moon, for if you miss you will still hit the stars. Stay strong, and stay hopeful.

how does your large amount of muscle impact your general agility/speed ?

None whatsoever. Unlike bodybuilders, strength athletes have to be just that, along with quite a few other things.

Strongman largely focuses on strength, yes. But many of the brands for the past couple decades have focused on putting in events that require speed as well, along with many that are just plain awkward. I.E, Log lift for reps, races, endurance competitions, etc. Most strongmen are very flexible and fairly healthy. I can still do a standing back tuck (back flip) as well as a front and back handspring series. =P

I think I understand the general concept for that — you propel your weight in the direction that flips your body. (Right?)
For me, though, I tense up halfway and reduce my momentum; I get scared of losing control of my body and end up falling on my back.
Any recommendations for improvement in form or courage?
I don’t want to end up breaking my neck..

I think I understand the general concept for that — you propel your weight in the direction that flips your body.
For me, though, I tense up halfway and reduce my momentum; I get scared of losing control of my body and end up falling on my back.
Any recommendations for improvement in form or courage?
I don’t want to end up breaking my neck..

Rule number 1, always keep your head tucked in. Your arms are your body’s steering wheel – use them. To acquire more height, you have to reach for more height. We have a technique termed “Riding the Jump”, which is where you wait until the very top of your jump to even start the flip.

Riding the jump helps fix many problems in terms of aesthetics – it’s just generally scary when you’re first learning it.

If you’ll permit me a little bit of time (maybe a day or so – I’m grotesquely busy) I can actually give you some drills that will help develop your back tuck. I own a couple of Gymnastics and Powertumbling gyms, and was national champion in Serbia on Rings.

EDIT : And as to that tid-bit about using your arms, you want the beginning of the back tuck to be a straight jump.

The Straight Jump

Now, of course, you don’t have to do yours on a beam. But still, you get the starting concept. ;)

If you’ll permit me a little bit of time (maybe a day or so – I’m grotesquely busy) I can actually give you some drills that will help develop your back tuck. I own a couple of Gymnastics and Powertumbling gyms, and was national champion in Serbia on Rings.

That would be much appreciated (=

Edit upon seeing your Edit: Very well, I shall become adept at Le Straight Jump.

Well recently I’ve dropped from 170pounds down to 165 or so.
I’m walking almost every day again after skipping a week or so.

Sadly Houston weather is coming in again so I’ll have to skip a few days since it’ll be going up to 99% humidity as well as tons of storms and temps in the high 70s.
I wish it’d just stay cold forever.

Thankfully the nice weather is coming back soon so I can continue walking 2miles or so a day.

I used to be in size 42pants or something crazy like that.
Now I’m in 38s and I’m having to keep them up with a belt.

T-Thanks Hammer, you’re most likely the main reason why I actually lost so much considering my entire family thought I was “too skinny” and didn’t want to walk/run outside.
Now however we (me and my mom) run almost every single day.

>tfw no longer a blubbery pile of trash
People don’t fear my blubber anymore.
I’m actually cold when it’s “cold” outside instead of warm, without even having a jacket.

I honestly couldn’t of dropped this much weight without this thread.
Just in time for my school starting I started to look fairly okay. SOON.

Well recently I’ve dropped from 170pounds down to 165 or so.
I’m walking almost every day again after skipping a week or so.

Sadly Houston weather is coming in again so I’ll have to skip a few days since it’ll be going up to 99% humidity as well as tons of storms and temps in the high 70s.
I wish it’d just stay cold forever.

Thankfully the nice weather is coming back soon so I can continue walking 2miles or so a day.

I dig it, man. But not the weather. I can’t live any farther south than Kentucky – I’d rage.

Well recently I’ve dropped from 170pounds down to 165 or so.
I’m walking almost every day again after skipping a week or so.

Sadly Houston weather is coming in again so I’ll have to skip a few days since it’ll be going up to 99% humidity as well as tons of storms and temps in the high 70s.
I wish it’d just stay cold forever.

Thankfully the nice weather is coming back soon so I can continue walking 2miles or so a day.

I dig it! But I hate that kind of weather. I can’t live farther south than Kentucky – I’d rage.

I used to be in size 42pants or something crazy like that.
Now I’m in 38s and I’m having to keep them up with a belt.

T-Thanks Hammer, you’re most likely the main reason why I actually lost so much considering my entire family thought I was “too skinny” and didn’t want to walk/run outside.
Now however we (me and my mom) run almost every single day.

>tfw no longer a blubbery pile of trash
People don’t fear my blubber anymore.
I’m actually cold when it’s “cold” outside instead of warm, without even having a jacket.

I honestly couldn’t of dropped this much weight without this thread.
Just in time for my school starting I started to look fairly okay. SOON.

Thanks for your post! News like this is always inspirational and welcomed! Stay strong!

My wife suffers from chronic asthma, and for a long time she’s let that dictate what she does/doesn’t do. When she was at school though she trained to do the Ten Tors challenge, and thinking back to that, and also inspired by Paula Radcliffe who also has asthma (though not as severely, I believe), she’s decided to learn to run.

This helps me too. My knee injury is more or less healed, but I need to be very careful getting back into running so that it becomes strong rather than falling apart again. Coaching her through a gradual program should do us both good.

We’ll be doing a 5k race on April 7th (her first race ever), and in just under a year hope to do a full marathon together if all goes well at each stage.

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